This invention relates to an electric toothbrush with a handle and a brush member. The brush member has a brush head and a connecting rod which can be set by means of a gear into a sliding movement reciprocating longitudinally. In the electric toothbrush the bristle holders are held rotatably in the brush head in a bristle holder plate. The bristle holders can be set into an oscillatory rotating movement by means of the connecting rod. The brush head can be set into oscillatory movement about the longitudinal axis of the toothbrush by means of the gear.
An electric toothbrush of the above type is the subject matter of U.S. Pat. No. 4,989,287. In the toothbrush, disclosed in this patent, a connecting rod is fixed non-rotatably in the brush member. The brush member is connected rotatably about its longitudinal axis relative to the handle. The gear in the handle produces both the oscillatory movement and the sliding movement. Owing to the oscillatory movement of the connecting rod about its longitudinal axis, the entire brush member oscillates at the same time about its longitudinal axis so that when using the toothbrush, one can hold only the handle and not the comparably large brush member.
In the prior art toothbrush the gear is constructed in such a manner that the design of the two movements that are produced is narrowly defined, because a single eccentric produces both movements and, therefore, a change in its eccentricity, for example for the purpose of enlarging the sliding movement, simultaneously leads to an enlargement of the oscillatory movement.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,710,995 also shows an electric toothbrush, in which one gear is provided for sliding movement and one gear is provided for oscillatory movement, whereby each gear has its own eccentric. Thus, both movements can be dimensioned independently of each other. However, the construction of the toothbrush, according to this patent, is very complicated on the whole because it has a plurality of gears and pinions, a feature, for example, that is illustrated in FIG. 1 of the patent.
EP 0 818 977 also shows an electric toothbrush, wherein the brush member cannot be moved and the brush holder, housed in the toothbrush head, carries out an oscillatory movement. However, this brush holder has stationary bristles and no individual tufts of bristles that can oscillate individually about its longitudinal axis.
The present invention is based on the problem of designing an electric toothbrush of the type described above in such a manner that both an oscillatory movement of the individual bristle holders and an oscillatory swivel movement of the entire unit of bristle holders are possible with simple means, without having to move thereby the entire brush member.
This problem is solved by means of the invention in that the bristle holder plate in the brush head is held so as to oscillate about a shaft running in the longitudinal direction of the toothbrush; and the brush member is connected non-rotatably to the handle, and that the gear for swiveling the bristle holder plate is designed relative to the brush member.
This design makes it possible to non-rotatably connect the brush member to the handle in the conventional manner; and to provide to this end a simple coupling, for example, a bayonet fastener. Thus, the use of the toothbrush is simultaneously more comfortable, because in so doing one can also grasp the handle, because it does not move. Furthermore, the energy consumption of the toothbrush is less than in the conventional toothbrush, because only one relatively small bristle holder plate must be swiveled and not the entire brush member.
It is advantageous if, according to a further aspect of the invention, the gear for producing an oscillatory movement of the connecting rod about its longitudinal axis is formed, and if the connecting rod is held, such that it rotates relative to the brush member about its longitudinal axis, and if the connecting rod rests with its front end so as to slide axially against the bristle holder plate. In such a design the connecting rod is set into motion oscillating about its longitudinal axis. And the motion in the brush head is transferred directly to the bristle holder plate.
The space conditions in the brush head are used optimally if the front end of the connecting rod is bent at right angles and is oriented parallel to the longitudinal axis of the connecting rod.
The electric toothbrush is especially economical to produce if the shaft in the brush head is held on both sides of the bristle holder plate and projects with its free end into the connecting rod that is bent at right angles. Owing to this design, the shaft can swivelably hold not only the bristle holder plate, but also the front area of the connecting rod.
The gear is designed especially simple if it is formed in the handle by means of an eccentric, oriented at right angles to the toothbrush shaft and thus also at right angles to the connecting rod; and a guide member of the toothbrush shaft is formed with a guide, which is oriented at right angles to the longitudinal axis of the toothbrush shaft, and which reaches over the eccentric.
The means for generating the oscillatory movement and the sliding movement are designed especially simple, if, according to another aspect of the invention, the gear is formed exclusively for generating a sliding movement of the toothbrush shaft; and, in addition to the gear, a swivel gear is provided for generating the swiveling movement of the toothbrush shaft.
The swivel gear is economical to manufacture, if it has a twisted flattening on the toothbrush shaft and a radial projection which is stationary in the housing and rests against the flattening.
As an alternative, however, it is possible to provide that the swivel gear has a slanted groove which runs radially into the toothbrush shaft and into which projects a radial projection that is stationary in the housing.
The brush member, which must be replaced from time to time because of wear or contamination and must be on hand over and over again when several persons use the toothbrush, is especially economical to manufacture if the swivel gear is disposed in the handle, just like the gear for the sliding movement.
Another very simple embodiment of the invention resides in the fact that the swivel gear is disposed in the brush head and has a groove, which runs obliquely to the sliding direction of the connecting rod and into which projects an arm, which is oriented radially to the swivel shaft of the bristle holder plate and is connected stationarily to the bristle holder plate. However, it is also possible to provide that the bristle holder plate in the toothbrush head is mounted swivelably on a swivel shaft, which is oriented parallel to the longitudinal axis of the brush member, on two opposing sides; and the connecting rod in the brush member is guided non-rotatably.
When the gear is supposed to produce the sliding movement and the oscillatory movement of the toothbrush shaft, it is especially easy to design if it has a spherical head, designed as an eccentric, and the toothbrush shaft reaches with a ring, offset radially to its longitudinal axis, over this spherical head.
In summary it must be emphasized that the bristle tufts can be pressed or cemented into the respective bristle holder or held in the respective bristle holder through injection molding with plastic. Instead of with eccentric pins and transverse grooves, the reciprocating rotating movement of the bristle holders with the bristle tufts can also be generated in a different way, for example, by means of a gearwheel on each bristle holder and rack teeth on the connecting rod. The holders of the tufts of bristles can be made of material that is different from that of the rest of the toothbrush. On the whole, the inventive toothbrush is designed such that it can be manufactured quite easily from injection molded parts.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the invention when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.